Fed up with all the landlord bashing – What’s the alternative?

Hi Jahangir,
I am gradually reducing my commitment to managing my own properties by employing the services of lettingsupermarket.com. I suggest you talk to your local office to discuss which services you require, though they are not very active in this area they have proved adequate so far ( their office is some 50 miles distant) and their rates are acceptable

Reply to the comment left by John Walker at 26/07/2018 - 12:34
Hi John

My wife amd I also use LettingSupermarket.com

We live in Malta and our properties are in Norfolk, west Midlands, Yorkshire and greater Manchester. Their offices are in Shropshire but they have over 200 agents dotted all over the country, so local representation is never far away.

Their prices are unbeatable and their service is excellent. I think their viewing process could be improved in terms of speed, but that would be my only criticism.

For landlords living close to their properties, they might wish to retain this control anyway. Due to living in Malta this isn't practical for my wife and I, but most landlords will not have that problem.

We have never had a problem with rent arrears or a property getting trashed under their management, perhaps because we always pay the extra £10 a month for Rent Guarantee Insurance, which also forces the referencing company to do the bast job they can because we are transferring the risks to them. Nevertheless, I do still miss looking my potential tenants in the eye and deciding whether they are the right ones for me. My wife is an even better judge of charachter than I am, perhaps because of the old Russian expression 'Trust But Verify'. However, there is a flipside to that too. Where several tenants want to let one of our properties, LettingSupermarket.com deal with 'best offers' bidding subject to referencing. In some cases this has resulted in the rental price achieved being 20% or more than we had anticipated.

Property will never be a passive form of investment though, because decisions will always need to be made and ultimate accountability cannot be outsourced.

At one point my wife and I also considered selling everything. However, we wouldn't know where else to get a better return on our money, so we are now only considering selling as and when properties become vacant, and we are taking a commercial view on whether to retain or sell when those opportunities present themselves. If the net returns exceeds 20% of what we would receive in net sale proceeds if we were to sell, then we always re-let. When figures all below the 20% line in the sand we have to weigh up several other factors which are too many to mention.

I also would recommend LettingSupermarket.com . Excellent service, never had a problem with them or tenants and no void periods to date. Our local lady is very good at what she does.

Reply to the comment left by Dennis Leverett at 27/07/2018 - 11:41
Letting supermarket seemed not to have a local agent in sw18?

Reply to the comment left by david porter at 27/07/2018 - 13:16
When did you last check? They are taking in new agents all the time.

Yes, wanted to try them out but found out they did not have the accreditation recommended by Nottingham Council for selective licencing.

You could lease your properties to the local council or a housing association, so that you receive a guaranteed rent every month, at which point the council/housing association become the landlord with responsibility for managing the properties (e.g. ensuring compliance with Regs, dealing with voids, finding tenants, dealing with rent arrears, dealing with any anti-social behaviour, tenant evictions, etc, etc). This is what is called "rent to rent", but there are a lot of unscrupulous companies/individuals out there trying this, so be very careful and do your due diligence before entering into any agreements.
As for alternative ways to invest your money, rather than in BTL, there are a million and one things you could potentially invest in. - I currently have a deal where I can get electric vehicle charging points supplied and installed with virtually no upfront cash needed, and generate a secondary income from each unit of electricity used, so how about investing in parking spaces with EV charging points, so you generate an income from renting out the parking space, plus a secondary income from the EV charging point? With electric vehicles predicted to increase from around 200,000 to 11,000,000 over the next 12 years, providing public charging points will be a great investment, and it creates a genuine win-win situation for both the driver and the owner of the charging point.

Hi Jahangir - two ideas and I use them both on different properties.
1. Not really hands off but you meet some interesting people and it can be profitable. Switch suitable properties to holiday lets with considerable tax benefits. Let via an agency or Airbnb or do both.
2. For much less hassle - If you own a new or fairly new modern apartment then put it with a Serviced Apartment Provider on a company let. Full list of members and locations covered on the SAP website. They will take your apartment on a 1, 2 or 3 year let - you choose - and pay you regularly each month. Rates paid are similar to what you would get on an AST. You supply the property in an unfurnished state apart from carpets, curtains and major white goods. It is very similar to a rent to rent scheme. They let your apartment which is furnished by them to hotel standards with Sky TV etc. They let mainly to corporate clients mainly for stays of one week or more. No voids and often the SAP will organise minor repairs with your permission and you just reimburse them.

I have started a petition on 38 degrees - please sign and share.

LINK >>> https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/competition-will-increase-the-quality-of-housing-of-all-tenures

Reply to the comment left by J C at 27/07/2018 - 23:18
Really, what accreditation is that? They are ARLA members and have all the necessary client money protection & liability insurances!